AT&T Hints Asset Sales May Occur

AT&T Inc. has signaled in meetings with investors and analysts in recent weeks that it would be open to selling its multibillion-dollar portfolio of cellphone towers and its stake in the Latin American phone company owned by Carlos Slim if necessary to keep paying its dividend or buying back stock.

AT&T executives at the meetings suggested the company could sell the assets in response to questions about future dividend payments and stock buybacks, people who were in those meetings said. AT&T executives...